Patrick Vieira says his Crystal Palace side knew to put immediate pressure on Alexandre Lacazette whenever he got the ball during Monday night’s 3-0 win over Arsenal at Selhurst Park.
Patrick Viera said: “Today was about defending well as a team. Putting pressure on the centre-backs, putting pressure on the full-backs to not allow them to find those players in between the line because if there is a space between the line, we will be in trouble. Any time that they managed to find those players we always had one of our back four who jumped out and try to put pressure, especially on Alexandre Lacazette.”
Mikel Arteta was less than impressed with what he saw from his Arsenal side over the 90 minutes and apologized to the club’s fans during a post-match TV interview for the way they performed in the London derby, brandishing the display as ‘unacceptable’.
Mikel Arteta said: “Congratulations to Palace for the game they played but we made it impossible for ourselves with the way we competed. You have to be physical and run and then you earn the right to play. We were really inconsistent on the ball and that is unacceptable. We were poor, especially in the first half. I apologise to our supporters. We didn’t have the presence today or the composure to dominate the situation so that is what I’m most annoyed with. Some days you are not there and you are late all the time. They got on top of it and had a good atmosphere and we could not get out.”
